Patrick McGoohan was
born in New York City, on Long Island on March 19, 1928. His parents
had immigrated to the United States, and a few months after his
birth, decided to return to Ireland. They settled in County Leitrim,
his early childhood was a relatively poor one on a family farm that
proved to have poor soil. He went to a local school in Sheffield and
recalls, "We were evacuated during the war. During that time, I went
to a private boys' school with four other boys from Sheffield, all
with pretty much the same background as myself. We had scholarships
and evacuation allowances. After that, I went to work in the steel
mills in Sheffield. He got a school certificate, the equivalent of a
diploma and passed the exams to go to Oxford, but then said he
decided, "I didn't want to go."

Patrick McGoohan is
often described as 'enigmatic'...the definition of which means
puzzling, mysterious, inexplicable, ambiguous. McGoohan can
also be described as showing great warmth, humour, and kindness as
well as a volatile temper, stubbornness, and impatience. He is well
known for his strong desire for privacy and his need to follow his
own individuality. McGoohan has plenty of his own opinions to convey,
yet is reclusive. In short, he is a man with genuine and
individual talent.

In 1944, at the age of
16, he left school and took various jobs over the next few years.
During this time he became ill with bronchial asthma and spent six
months in bed. Once recovered, he applied for work at the Sheffield
Repertory Company. He was still under 20.

He recalls, "I worked in
the steel mills, in a bank for about nine months, ran a chicken farm
for a while, and then I got the job at the Sheffield Playhouse as the
general stage manager. During all of the steel mill work, banking,
and chicken farming, I was in five different amateur theatrical
companies, so I was acting all of the time. I started out at the St.
Vincent's Youth Center in Sheffield."

Patrick
McGoohan took the job as stage manager at the Sheffield Repertory
Theatre and for a while did every type of work needed to keep the
company going. He also got the chance to play small parts in the
plays that were being produced and he could learn the basics of
acting under a master, Geoffrey Ost, the Director of the Company.
Within two years he was a leading player. He also met a young actress
with the company, Joan Drummond. They married May 19, 1951, between a
rehearsal of "The Taming of the Shrew" and a performance of "The
Rivals." He estimates that he appeared in at least 200 plays during
all of his early years.

By the mid-1950's, he
had become established as a lead player on prestige stages at the
West End in plays such as "Moby Dick" (1955), "Serious Charge"
(1955), and "Ring for Catty" (1956). At the same time he was also
moving into television, taking feature roles in episodes of regular
series, including "The Vise,"and "You Are There," as well as a number
of BBC Tv plays. In 1955, Patrick McGoohan appeared in his first
film, "Passage Home", although only in a small part he quickly
followed with other brief appearances in "I am a Camera" (1955), "The
Dam Busters" (1955), "The Warrior" (1955, also titled "The Dark
Avenger"), and a supporting part in "Zarak" (1956).

In 1957 he became a
contract actor for the Rank Organization, a major film company in
England, and moved up into lead roles in films. While he was working
for Rank he starred in a number of BBC-Tv live plays and it was in
large part these performances that brought the recognition that
served as a step-up to his first television series.

The
Ibsen play "Brand" brought about a dramatic rise in Patrick
McGoohan's career. McGoohan achieved critical success, winning the
London Drama Critics Award for his performance (Variety, 7/8/59). He
repeated the role later in the year on a special BBC-Tv broadcast of
the play.

In the same year he was
recognised as Britain's top stage actor, he was also named "Best TV
Actor of the Year" for his starring role as the first man on the moon
in the BBC-Tv play "The Greatest Man in the World." Another BBC-Tv
play "The Big Knife" (1959), was of great importance to his career,
it lead to an offer from Lew Grade to do the "Danger Man" series.

Danger Man was made in 1960 and 1961 (and
shown in the U.S. in 1961). The series established the style and
theme for what a few years later would become the highly successful
"Secret Agent" series. The main character John Drake worked for NATO
as a special security agent and was free to travel the world working
on special problems for free world governments. The story lines set
an early precedent for nonviolence, preferring to have Drake use his
wits and his fists rather than a gun.

As both a moral and
opinionated man, McGoohan held strong views and was forceful about
seeing that they were carried out. At the very first script meeting
about the initial episode he insisted that the bedroom scene be cut
out. He made it clear that romantic scenes would have to be removed
if he were to play the role, and consequently none appeared in either
this series or the "Secret Agent" series that followed. Nor did any
such relationships appear in "The Prisoner" series.

It will come of no
surprise to learn that when McGoohan was offered the role as the
first James Bond, he turned it down - several times - as being
incompatable with the type of role he wanted to play. He says it was
a decision he has never regretted. Although McGoohan fans would have
loved to see him in the role I'm sure.

After the end
of "Danger Man" in 1961, over the next couple of years McGoohan went
on to star in some exceptional films and appear in various televised
plays. In 1961, he appeared in "All Night Long," (a film with an
"Othello" theme) playing an arrogant and neurotic jazz band drummer
willing to do whatever it takes to get the backing for his own band.

The
film version of the serious and emotional Brendan Behan play, "The
Quare Fellow," was next, with McGoohan in the lead role as Thomas
Crimmin, a young prison guard getting his first real experience and
who changes his mind about capital punishment. Two films for Walt
Disney Studios followed: "The Three Lives of Thomasina" (1962) and
"Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow" (1963; also shown on American
television as the three part "Scarecrow of Romney Marsh").

By the time "Danger Man"
resumed production in 1964, spy stories were all the rage and the
series became a big hit. Shown in England under the previous title,
it became "Secret Agent" in the United States and debuted in 1965.
John Drake was now a secret agent for England instead of NATO, and
the series was expanded to an hour in length. It had original and
good plots, a popular theme song and well-written background music,
excellent production techniques, exceptional camera work, and it had
McGoohan's strong and stylish performance. As before, John Drake was
a loner, an individual, and a moral character. Along with "The
Saint", Danger Man/Secret Agent was Lew Grade's most successful
export to the U.S. McGoohan was also offered the role of Simon
Templar, The Saint originially, he refused this role saying that he
did not like the car that was lined up for the character, the Volvo
P60. The real reason is actually thought to be the kissing that Simon
was required to do!

By 1966 McGoohan had grown tired of "Secret
Agent" and felt the programme was beginning to repeat itself. He
approached Lew Grade about doing something a little different and
proposed to him a limited-episode series called "The Prisoner."
McGoohan had the status and power he needed to get the backing for
the series he really wanted to do, and the free rein to control its
every aspect.

McGoohan was the star
and executive producer, as well as a frequent director and writer;
the creative force and controlling hand of a series that was in large
part his concept. An able production team was assembled from the
previous series. McGoohan wrote a number of the episodes, using
several pseudonyms as well as his own name during the course of his
work. The series debuted in England in 1967 and in the United States
in June, 1968.

After the final episode
of "The Prisoner", McGoohan found himself forced to flee from the
U.K. following the thousands of complaints about the show's ending.
He moved his family to Switzerland in an effort to find some privacy.
He spent two years on producing eight television documentaries about
Africa and introduced a couple of episodes of the "Journey into
Darkness" TV series. He eventually made the decision to move to the
United States; first to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and then to Pacific
Palisades, California, where he lives today.

The film "The Moonshine
War" was released in 1970. For most of 1972/73 he went back behind
the camera on a directing assignment. As the Director for the film
version of "Catch My Soul," it was his job to bring to life the rock
musical with an "Othello" theme. By this time directing and writing
had become as important to him as acting. Several projects kept him
behind the camera instead of in front of it for long periods of time.

He
combined his acting, directing, and writing talents over a three-year
period on the "Columbo" Television series starring Peter Falk. In
1974, he appeared in "By Dawn's Early Light" as a military colonel
who resorts to murder to support military honor and misguided ideals
in his position as head of a military academy. His performance won
him an Emmy for "Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor
in a Comedy or Drama Series". The following year he directed and
appeared in "Identity Crisis" as a brash, advertising executive
leading a life as a secret agent with a penchant for side deals. He
once again took a director's job in a 1976 "Columbo" episode called
"Last Salute to the Commodore" starring Peter Falk and Robert Vaughn.

A television film "The Man in the
Iron Mask" was made in England in 1976. And the ever popular feature
film "Silver Streak" (1976) with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor got
excellent reviews. In a classic villain role as Roger Devereau,
McGoohan's shoot-out with the police on the train was the high point
of the film. 1977 brought the television series "Rafferty." The film
"Kings and Desperate Men" was also made in 1977 with Alexis Kanner
from "The Prisoner" but was seen at film festivals before its release
in England in (1985). 1978 brought the film "Brass Target." "Escape
from Alcatraz" debuted in" 1979, "The Hard Way" in 1980, and
"Scanners" in 1981.

In 1985 "Jamaica Inn" (made in 1982) was released,
in which he played Joss Merlyn, the drunken and violent landlord of
the Jamaica Inn. In the feature film "Baby...Secret of the Lost
Legend" he played a ruthless paleontologist who would stop at nothing
to take credit for the discovery of dinosaurs in the African jungle.
A successful Broadway play "Pack of Lies" completed his schedule for
1985. "Pack of Lies" marked McGoohan's return to the stage for the
first time in nearly 25 years and was his first Broadway performance.

The 1990s began with renewed focus on his
association with Peter Falk and Columbo. He once again
combined the responsibilities of guest star and director for a 1990
episode, Agenda For Murder. The result was another Emmy
Award for his role. In a contrasting role, he played George Bernard
Shaw in a Masterpiece Theatre televised version of the popular play,
"The Best of Friends".

Over
the past few years he has directed his energies to making a number of
films. "Braveheart" was a huge success in 1995 as the top film of the
year and his role was cited by many critics as the best in the film.
Two new films were released in 1996: the adventure film, "The
Phantom" was introduced in early June and "A Time To Kill" opened as
one of the top summer films in late July, 1996.

Patrick and Peter Falk
recently teamed up again to make another Columbo episode, Ashes
to Ashes that was aired in the U.S. on the 8th of October 1998.

He has completed work on
another film, "Hysteria," and is currently at work planning the film
version of "The Prisoner" which is reputed to that Universal Studios
have recently won the rights to produce a new film based on The
Prisoner with Simon West to direct.